Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the United States benefits from having a rich class, a figure unchanged from over 20 years ago, according to a new survey Friday.

Indeed, 63 percent of Americans believe that the United States is better off from having a class of wealthy, according to Gallup. Only 34 percent believe that the country does not benefit from having an upper class.

Even as the president has called on the rich to pay their “fair share” in taxes, the Occupy Wall Street protests, and amid a public debate over the so-called Buffett rule, American views of the rich have not changed significantly in over 20 years.

In 1990, 62 percent thought that the U.S. was better off with a rich class of people, compared with 32 percent who disagreed.

On this topic, there is a partisan gap, but a majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree that having a class of rich people benefits the U.S. — 52 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of independents and 80 percent of Republicans.

Meanwhile, 63 percent of Americans say that they would personally want to be rich, compared with 35 percent who said they would prefer not to be if they had a choice. Only 28 percent of Americans, however, thought that it was “very” or “somewhat” likely that they would be rich in their lifetimes.

The Gallup Poll was conducted May 3-6, with a sample of 1,024 adults and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.